This weekend CNN is giving four hours of free airtime to the leading propagandist fanning the flames of deficit hysteria, Pete Peterson. And the other "experts' all echo Peterson's conservative deficit fixations. Bloggers and online activists are joining today to promote this action. And if CNN does go ahead with this programming, tell them to provide balance to Pete Peterson's deficit hysteria. Give equal time to defenders of Social Security, Medicare and public investment.
CNN plans to air Peterson's thoroughly debunked propaganda movie "I.O.U.S.A," - and then his acolytes will have free reign to spread their usual lies about Social Security, Medicare and government in general without any fiscal expert to challenge them and give a different point of view.
How do we know? Because CNN did the exact same thing with "I.O.U.S.A" last year. No debate. Just Peterson's propaganda.
Is this how "the most trusted name in news" should cover the debates on retirement security, job creation and fighting poverty?
We have just one day to get CNN to balance it's programming.
Whose voices will be shut out this weekend?
The nation's leading economists who are urging our government to use deficits today to invest in long-term prosperity - such as Paul Krugman, James Galbraith and Dean Baker.
The fiscal experts who have repeatedly said Social Security is sound and broader health care reform will protect Medicare.
All of you who voted for an active government to invest in our future.
While you are kept silent, who does CNN give the microphone to?
A multimillionaire Wall Street mogul who wants our government to slash investments while millions are losing their jobs. This guy had no problem taking tax cuts for the wealthy that caused our deficit problems - and his Wall St buddies crashed the economy.
NOTE: Peterson is holding an April 28 "Fiscal Summit" to once repeat his "way forward" out of the deficits caused by tax cuts for the wealthy and the financial crisis caused by Wall Street and the bankers. On the program: President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, who deregulated the financial system, profiting Rubin's Citibank - until the system melted down. Also on the program, Alan Greenspan, the former Fed Chief who presided over the deregulated banking system. These are the people Peterson chooses to lecture the rest of us about why we need painful austerity. This weekend's CNN programs are just a setup for April 28.
We are in the midst of a great debate over the direction America should take.
"The most trusted name in news" should be the place where we have the debate, not where one opinion is deemed to be absolute truth.
We already have a cable news network that does that. We don't need another unfair, unbalanced channel
Speak out today. Don't let Pete Peterson take over the debate about our future.
Follow Roger Hickey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rogerhickey
We already have a cable news network that does that. We don't need another unfair, unbalanced channel."
Yes, MSNBC is an unfair, unbalanced channel that deems its opinion as absolute truth.
I do NOT support all the points of action presented in the IOUSA series, but I do believe we need to have the debate in an informed, open way. To that end, yes, I'm glad that Dean Baker indeed was given counterpoint time on CNN today (I will have to see it later as I had to tape it), and I hope that this all furthers real, substantial debate and conversation about our fiscal future and priorities. When one discovers, as we did in making the films, how few Americans have any real idea of the basic functionings, process and layout of the federal budget, it becomes clear how important the debate is, and how little has been based on much beyond shouting and stubborn partisanship in the public arena.
Respectfully,
Doug B.
Co-editor,
IOUSA: SOLUTIONS
I believe in the importance of public welfare and education, medical care for all, and the general movement toward socially progressive goals. However, I also believe in math. There's a basic denial among many on the left (and on the right when it's politically convenient) to deny where the trends are heading on Medicare, Social Security and the debt-to-GDP ratio. I want to see social programs solvent, robust and available to those who rely on them for well-being for generations to come, and the concern over these programs' viability is real and rooted in some long-standing data. I'm sure you'll disagree with some of the debate points in the film, but I think if you watch the show, you'll see some surprisingly strong progressive ideas in the mix, including a serious look at bloated military spending and a general embrace of progressive health care principles, as well as more fair tax policies.
I'm a member of the crew of both the original IOUSA and the film portion of the new IOUSA: SOLUTIONS special this weekend. I am not an employee nor do I speak for the Peterson Foundation, CNN, or any of the organizations of the panelists. I am, however, a lifelong, concerned progressive, and I've worked on a range of films that support progressive causes.
The effort here to utterly discredit the original film and the new special unfortunately makes the same mistake that the knuckleheaded element of the Tea Party movement makes in taking on progressive issues. The virtual bookburning of "Don't Watch This!" shuts off ANY informed debate, and rather weakens the cases to be made in a rational conversation. I've shaken my head at the far right's ease with trying to shut down and ban information BASED ONLY ON THAT INFORMATION'S GENERAL TOPIC and not on the merits of its actual content - they don't even read or watch the stuff they crow so loudly about!...and Mr. Hickey, the CNN show had not aired at the time of your post. (end part one)